A Democratic Socialist Blog

Alternanative Economics

No doubt poverty and joblessness can be eliminated in our time. Martin Luther King said:
The problem indicates that our emphasis must be two-fold. We must create full employment or we must create incomes. People must be made consumers by one method or the other. Once they are placed in this position, we need to be concerned that the potential of the individual is not wasted. New forms of work that enhance the social good will have to be devised for those for whom traditional jobs are not available.”[
Here are a few models:
Worker Self-Management: Each productive enterprise is controlled democratically by its workers.
The Market: These enterprises interact with one another and with consumers in an environment largely free of governmental price controls. Raw materials, instruments of production and consumer goods are all bought and sold at prices largely determined by the forces of supply and demand.
Social Control of Investment: Funds for new investment are generated by a capital assets tax and are returned to the economy through a network of public investment banks and other industries.
These can be developed in the form of Municipal Enterprise, Co-operative Enterprise, Sustainable and Ecological/Green Enterprises. HighTech/Low Tech, Sustaining and infrastructure for Sustainable/Livable Communities.
Here is an example. If a too big to fail bank fails. It should be Nationalized, and broken up. Than given to the employees with the government as a silent partner. The workers control the banks, even voting out corporate officers if they fail or have moral issues. The government, who regulates, gets s split if the profits. The people get a living wage and empowerment. The Executives are no longer allowed to have big paychecks, no get corporate welfare or bonuses. Regulations work where Banks make for Savings and loans. This offsets taxes to being lowered and no tax abatement. More money goes to the community.
Here is a link to a good site:http://www.careerplanner.com/Career-Articles/Top_Jobs.cfm
Since the manufacturing jobs are not coming back the answer is creating high and low tech jobs that pay a living wage. Maybe starting a Eco Industrial Park.
An eco-industrial park (EIP) is an industrial park in which businesses work in tandem and with the local community in an attempt to reduce waste and pollution, efficiently share resources (such as information, materials, water, energy, infrastructure, and natural resources), and help achieve sustainable development, with the intention of increasing economic and social gains and improving quality of life. An EIP may also be planned, designed, and built in such a way that it makes it easier for businesses to work in tandem, and that results in a more financially sound and beneficial, environmentally and socially friendly project for the developer.
There are many opportunities for Public Works and other Community details.
Co-operatives are one way to go. And we must not forget the importance of the Universal Income/ Basic Income Grant.
In The book, “Toward Useful Unemployment” it describes things people can do to make their own work. (Or not). George Bush was only partly right in his tax return stimulus. The Notion is spending power creates more jobs and consumerism. THE UI/BIG allows everyone to be “Self Employed”. An artisan can practice his hobby, invention, or craft and make market from that creativity. In a regular job situation this si impossible at times.
It is considered that there is a difference between a job and work. People may work harder in there personal lives than at work, while some jobs do not require much work. (I have seen this with my own eyes. It is true)
Also, re-architecture of communities and re-designing towns to a more futurist model will re-invent the small town and home towns into bustling communities with many futuristic jobs. The dependence on Automobiles and long arrivals to work will be eliminated . Communities would be more compact and populous, leaving many green spaces.
Jobs and the workplaces evolves. The Blacksmith, local tinker, milkman, and spinner are all gone. These are casualties of Occupational Evolution.
There are also something coming up called Telecommute jobs, where people can make work from their home computers. Through technological evolution, Robotics, cyborgs, and automation 20th century jobs will disappear. In the 21st Century new work and a new life will be coming. This is a situation that must be fostered right away.
The possibilities are endless, but we will control our own destinies. As Frank Loydd Wright once noted, “A free America… means just this: individual freedom for all, rich or poor, or else this system of government we call democracy is only an expedient to enslave man to the machine and make him like it. “